General Sir Redvers Buller V.C. was among the most popular generals of his age, born in 1839 he was commissioned into the 60th Rifles in and started a military career that would last 40 years. His postings were many and varied; China in 1860, before many years in Canada and a distinguished part in the Red River expedition under Sir Garnet Wolseley in 1870 and under the same commander in the Second Ashanti War 1873-74. His next active command would earn him a Victoria Cross during the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879 at the head of the mounted infantry of Sir Evelyn Wood’s No. 4 Column. During the bloody defeat at Hlobane, Buller rallied the demoralized retreating rearguard, and rode back in the face of the hotly pusuing Zulu warriors to rescue men who had been unhorsed, not once, twice but three times! As if this was not enough the next day he fought at the victorious at the battle of Kambula, and later at the decisive battle of Ulundi. Buller left Africa a hero among his men and respected by his peers. His final command, during the Second Anglo-Boer War was much less successful; sent out to command and retrieve a situation already bungled, at the age of sixty, despite his protests. Facing a guerrilla war he instituted new tactics that would become standard practice to the modern day; use of cover, fire and movement, creeping barrages. However, these innovations were not enough to bridge the gap between his opponents and his hidebound troops, and he suffered a number of high profile defeats.

A succession of British disasters marked the early months of the Boer War of 1899-1902. It was the start of modern warfare: the empty battlefield. A scapegoat was found for thedefects revealed; Redvers Buller, the commander-in-chief until Lord Roberts superseded him.

The senior British generals of the Victorian era - men like Wolseley, Roberts, Gordon and Kitchener - were heroes of their time. As soldiers, administrators and battlefield commanders they represented the empire at the height of its power. But they were a disparate, sometimes fractious group of men. They exhibited many of the failings as well as the strengths of the British army of the late nineteenth-century. And now, when the Victorian period is being looked at more critically than before, the moment is right to reassess them as individuals and as soldiers. This balanced and perceptive study of these eminent military men gives a fascinating insight into their careers, into the British army of their day and into a now-remote period when Britain was a world power.

“You offer yourself to be slain,” General Sir John Hackett once observed, remarking on the military profession. “This is the essence of being a soldier.” For this reason as much as any other, the British army has invariably been seen as standing apart from other professions—and sometimes from society as a whole. A British Profession of Arms effectively counters this view. In this definitive study of the late Victorian army, distinguished scholar Ian F. W. Beckett finds that the British soldier, like any other professional, was motivated by considerations of material reward and career advancement. Within the context of debates about both the evolution of Victorian professions and the nature of military professionalism, Beckett considers the late Victorian officer corps as a case study for weighing distinctions between the British soldier and his civilian counterparts. Beckett examines the role of personality, politics, and patronage in the selection and promotion of officers. He looks, too, at the internal and external influences that extended from the press and public opinion to the rivalry of the so-called rings of adherents of major figures such as Garnet Wolseley and Frederick Roberts. In particular, he considers these processes at play in high command in the Second Afghan War (1878–81), the Anglo-Zulu War (1879), and the South African War (1899–1902). Based on more than thirty years of research into surviving official, semiofficial, and private correspondence, Beckett’s work offers an intimate and occasionally amusing picture of what might affect an officer’s career: wealth, wives, and family status; promotion boards and strategic preferences; performance in the field and diplomatic outcomes. It is a remarkable depiction of the British profession of arms, unparalleled in breadth, depth, and detail.

Canadians on the Nile, 1882-1898 is a lively description of Canada's romantic and little known involvement in the greatest imperial drama of Queen Victoria's later years. Chosen for their unique skills, 400 English- and French-speaking Canadian voyageurs transported imperial forces up the Nile in a daring attempt to rescue "Chinese" Gordon, besieged in Khartoum. A generation later, their imperial work was completed by another Canadian, Sir Percy Girouard, who built the desert railway which enabled Kitchener to capture Khartoum in 1898. Offering fresh insights to the general reader as well as to historians and students, this authoritative work is also a perceptive, exciting, and humorous account of a curious way station along the meandering road to Canadian nationhood.

One hundred years after the Boer War, the British continue to debate what went wrong, while the war has significant nationalist overtones in today's South Africa. This book examines changes in interpretations of the war and provides a bibliography of major sources on the Boer War, now sometimes called the South African War. The bibliography focuses on the military history, but also includes some historical accounts of the political debate. The first part of the book provides an extended historiographical essay, while part two provides an annotated bibliography of the titles discussed in part one. Historiographical questions concerning the Boer War are numerous. Discussions of military operations focus on the early use of modern weaponry and the effect of guerrilla tactics on a traditional force, while other historians debate the question of British military leadership and organization. Questions also revolve around British imperialism and the scramble for Africa. Frequently called the second war for freedom by South African authors, the war was the reason that South Africa, unlike other British colonies, gained independence without majority rule. This makes the war of continuing relevance to the turmoil in South Africa, the collapse of the minority government, and the continuing problems of the current government. This book will provide a useful tool for those wishing to research the war.

Two volumes introduce the history of colonial wars in Africa and illustrate why African countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Somalia, and Sudan continue to experience ethnic, political, and religious violence in the early 21st century. This sweeping study examines the wars of colonial conquest fought in Africa during the 19th and early 20th centuries. From Britain's efforts to wrest control of the Sudan from military leader Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi, to Italy's decisive defeat at the Battle of Adowa in Ethiopia, to Leopold II's brutal reign over the Belgian Congo, the work surveys the devastation reaped upon the continent by colonization and illustrates how its combative influence continues to resonate in Africa today. Written by scholars in the fields of history and politics, this complete reference includes entries on wars, campaigns, rebellions, battles, leaders, and organizations. The work delves into key historical periods including the "Scramble for Africa" (ca.1880 to 1910); early European colonial wars in Africa, such as the Dutch in the Cape and the Portuguese in Angola and Mozambique; and African rebellions against the early colonial state in the 1890s and early 1900s. Entries feature prominent events and personalities as well as lesser-known occurrences and players.